Grammy and Tony Award-winning Jazz Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater appears at United Nations World Food Day

GRAMMY AND TONY AWARD-WINNING JAZZ VOCALIST DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER APPEARS AT UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD DAY EVENT OCTOBER 27TH IN NEW YORK CITY

As a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Bridgewater continues to appeal for international solidarity to finance global grass-roots projects in the fight against world hunger.

New York, New York. In observation of the 31st United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's World Food Day and coinciding with the 66th anniversary of the founding of the FAO, a special ceremony is being held in New York City October 27th that will bring together the prominent people and opinion leaders from UN system, humanitarian and development organizations and the private sector. World renowned performer Dee Dee Bridgewater will speak at the event as part of her long-standing efforts to assist the FAO in their global outreach to end hunger.

While the World Food Day theme in 2011 is Food prices: from crisis to stability," in the light of the aggravating situation in the Horn of Africa, a special ceremony has been organized by the FAO focusing on the current drought and famine in the region that is taking the toll of human lives at risk on a daily basis, making it an emergency of huge proportions. Joining the FAO in organizing the event are key partners such as IFAD, WFP, Action Against Hunger, the UN Global Companct, the UN Office for Partnerships, the Hunger Project and the Group of Friends of Food Security and Nutrition at the United Nations. The Director-General of the FAO will open the Special Ceremony with key remarks by Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, amongst others.

The event will be an opportunity to raise funds in support to agriculture and livelihood recovery projects in the Horn of Africa and to assist households to meet their food needs over the next six months and beyond. In this context, FAO's planned interventions towards farmers and pastoralists include distribution of seeds and other inputs, provision of animal feed, livestock vaccination and treatment, cash-for-work schemes, water harvesting, irrigation, storage of food at village level and rural infrastructure improvement.

Bridgewater is currently in the midst of a world-wide tour in support of MIDNIGHT SUN, a collection of love songs from throughout the three-time Grammy and Tony Award-winning artist Dee Dee Bridgewater's critically acclaimed career. Released on DDB Records/Emarcy (Universal), and cited as a love letter of sorts," Midnight Sun, produced by Tulani Bridgewater-Kowalski, is the ultimate mixed tape, traversing landscapes of melodically mournful tales of love lost, heartrending ballads about forever afters and sultry promises of bliss. Midnight Sun is the fourth release on Bridgewater's own label, DDB Records.

Over the course of a multifaceted career that has spanned forty years, Grammy and Tony Award-winning Jazz diva Dee Dee Bridgewater has risen to the top tier of today's vocalists, putting her own unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. Bridgewater's career has always bridged musical genres. She earned her first professional experience as a member of the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Louis Big Band, and throughout the 70's she performed with such jazz notables as Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie. After a foray into the pop world during the 1980's, she relocated to Paris and began to turn her attention back to Jazz. Signing with the Universal Music Group as a producer (Bridgewater produces all of her CDs), Bridgewater released a series of acclaimed titles beginning with Keeping Tradition in 1993. All but one of them, including her wildly successful double Grammy Award-winning tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Dear Ellahave received Grammy nominations.

Bridgewater has also pursued a parallel career in musical theater and won a Tony Award for her role as Glinda, the good witch of the South" in The Wiz in 1975. Her other theatrical credits include Sophisticated Ladies, Black Ballad, Carmen and Lady Day, a Billie Holiday tribute for which Bridgewater received the British Laurence Olivier Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She also became the first African-American actress to play the role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret, a production staged at the Mogador Theatre in Paris. Bridgewater also hosts NPR's award-winning weekly syndicated show, JazzSet, now in its second decade on the air; and her recordings are available worldwide as she continues to tour globally, performing to sold-out venues both domestically and internationally.

I grew up listening to my father's jazz records and listening to the radio. My dad was a musician for many years as a vocalist, bassist and drummer. His two uncles played in the Symphony of Reggio Calabria back in Italy

I grew up listening to my father's jazz records and listening to the radio. My dad was a musician for many years as a vocalist, bassist and drummer. His two uncles played in the Symphony of Reggio Calabria back in Italy. So music and jazz specifically have been a part of me since I was born. I love and perform in all styles of music from around the world. Improvisation in jazz is what drew me in, and still does as well as other genres that feature improvisation. A group of great musicians expressing themselves as one is the hallmark of great jazz and in fact all great music.